Sotah - Daf 38
- Birkas Kohanim Kohanim in the Mikdash and elsewhere
The next Mishnah teaches how Birkas Kohanim is performed: במדינה אומר אותה שלש ברכות ובמקדש ברכה אחת – In the provinces (i.e., outside the Mikdash), he says it as three separate berachos, and in the Mikdash, as one berachah. במקדש אומר את השם ככתבו ובמדינה בכינויו – In the Mikdash, he says [Hashem’s] Name the way it is written (Yud-Kay-Vav-Kay) and in the provinces, with its substitute (Aleph-Dalet-Nun-Yud). במדינה כהנים נושאים את ידיהן כנגד כתפיהן ובמקדש על גבי ראשיהן – In the provinces, the Kohanim raise their hands parallel to their shoulders, and in the Mikdash, above their heads (Rashi explains because they are pronouncing Hashem’s Name, and the Shechinah rests above their fingers). The Mishnah then records a machlokes if the Kohen Gadol does the same or cannot raise his hands above the ציץ. The Gemara brings the sources for many halachos of Birkas Kohanim, among them our Mishnah’s distinction of when to use the שם המפורש: "ושמו את שמי" – Let them place My Name [upon Bnei Yisroel] implies שמי המיוחד לי – My Name which is unique to Me. A gezeirah shavah teaches that this only applies in the Mikdash. Rebbe Yoshiyah gives a different source, from a passuk he reinterprets to say: בכל מקום אשר אבוא אליך וברכתיך שם אזכיר את שמי – Everywhere that I will come to you and bless you, meaning the Mikdash, there I will permit mention of My Name.
- The trait of miserliness
Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi said: אין נותנין כוס של ברכה לברך אלא לטוב עין – We do not give the Cup of Blessing for bentching except to a generous person. He also said: מנין שאפילו עופות מכירין בצרי העין – From where do we know that even birds recognize misers? Because a passuk about misers says: כי חנם מזורה הרשת בעיני כל בעל כנף – Because for nothing he scatters food in the net, to the eye of every winged creature (because they will not eat the miser’s food). He also said: כל הנהנה מצרי העין עובר בלאו – Anyone who benefits from a miser transgresses a prohibition, as it says: אל תלחם את לחם רע עין וגו' – Do not eat the bread of a miser etc., כי כמו שער בנפשו כן הוא אכול ושתה יאמר לך וגו' – because he is like one whose soul is embittered. “Eat and drink” he will tell you, but his heart is not with you. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak added another lav. Finally, Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi faults misers for the death of the traveler that requires an עגלה ערופה, based on the elders of the city declaring they are not responsible for his death because they did not send him away without food.
- An all-Kohanim congregation, and who is not included in the berachah
Rebbe Simlai said: בית הכנסת שכולה כהנים כולן עולין לדוכן – A synagogue that is entirely made up of Kohanim, they all ascend the platform for Birkas Kohanim. Since there is no one else present, Rebbe Zeira explains whom they are blessing: לאחיהם שבשדות – to their brothers working in the fields. This is challenged from a Baraisa which states: עם שאחורי כהנים אינן בכלל ברכה – the people standing behind the Kohanim are not included in the berachah, because they must face the Kohanim to receive the berachah. The Gemara answers: הא דאניסי הא דלא אניסי – This law that those in the field are included is for those who are forced by their work not to attend, and this Baraisa that those standing behind the Kohanim are not included is for those who are not forced to do so, but do not value the berachah enough to change position.
